


Original Skin

by sugarlessgum



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bodyswap, minor kalice, minor queliot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-21 04:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19995715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarlessgum/pseuds/sugarlessgum
Summary: “I don’t know, Jules.” Quentin ran a hand down the front of the shirt. “This doesn’t feel like… me.”Julia sat beside him on the bed, nudging their arms together. “Is that a bad thing? Maybe being someone else for a night will be just the thing to get you out of this rut.”Maybe she had a point. He didn’t feel like himself. He was too… detached from who he thought he was. Maybe a change would help put things in perspective. It was worth a try anyway.





	Original Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Whitespire's Armory Challenge Theme 4: Body Swap
> 
> Inspired by the Lost Girl episode of the same name

Quentin lay in bed reading _The World in the Walls_ for the hundredth time when a pile of clothes hit him in the face.

“Get dressed,” Julia commanded from the doorway. “We’re going out.”

Quentin pulled the fabric away from his face and sent her a wary look. “Julia–”

“Nope. Not gonna hear it. Q, you haven’t left your bed in days. You need some fresh air and a change of scenery. Let’s go out, grab a few drinks, treat yourself to some eye candy. I heard Eliot’s bartending tonight.” Julia waggled here eyebrows and Quentin snorted, holding the clothes up for inspection.

“Where did you even find these?” He held a pair of slim black slacks and a floral button-up that he was sure had not been in his closet before today.

“I went shopping earlier. There’s a pair of boots for you in the living room too.”

“I don’t know, Jules.” Quentin ran a hand down the front of the shirt. “This doesn’t feel like… me.”

Julia sat beside him on the bed, nudging their arms together. “Is that a bad thing? Maybe being someone else for a night will be just the thing to get you out of this rut.”

Maybe she had a point. He didn’t feel like himself. He was too… detached from who he thought he was. Maybe a change would help put things in perspective. It was worth a try anyway.

So Quentin let Julia fuss over his clothes and his hair. Soon they were on their way to The Cottage, a bar and magicians’ haven owned by their best friends Margo and Eliot. Through some sort of illusion charm cooked up by Julia, the bar remained mostly unnoticed by non-magicians, which meant none of the patrons had to worry about muggle intruders and could use magic freely. Unfortunately, it also left them open to the occasional dead nights where business was crawling and they had no way of enticing crowds in from the street.

When Quentin and Julia arrived at The Cottage, there were only five other people there, including Eliot behind the bar and Margo taking up one of the tables for paperwork.

“Thank God,” Eliot called out when they walked in. “At least now the night won’t be a complete bore. No offense to our valued patrons, of course,” he added as an afterthought. Penny and Kady both rolled their eyes from the pool table. Alice, who was ticking away at her dissertation at a nearby table, didn’t even seem to hear.

It wasn’t exactly the raucous distraction Quentin had been hoping for, but the change in scenery and being surrounded by people he actually liked made for a decent alternative. The way Eliot ran his eyes up and down Quentin’s changed appearance didn’t exactly hurt either. Quentin and Julia sat at the bar where Eliot was already pouring a round of shots.

“Got a date to run off to tonight?” he asks.

“No. Just thought it was time for a change.”

“Well, it suits you.” Eliot passed them each a shot then held up one of his own. “To change.”

Margo had known when she opened a magicians only bar she would be greatly limiting the number of potential clientele. So she made a point of remembering their regulars, making sure The Cottage was always running in top condition to keep them happy and coming back. She also made it her business to keep an eye on the local magicians and hedges, taking notice when anyone knew rolled in town. She had enough eyes and ears outside the bar that she always knew when a new magic-user arrived less than an hour after they’ve hit the scene.

Which was why it was so concerning when a woman she didn’t recognize walked into the bar.

She was about average height, easily taller than Margo. She wore dark clothes, simple black boots, a black headscarf framing her face. She had a messenger bag slung across her chest. Nothing about her appearance particularly stood out, but Margo knew a magic bounty hunter when she saw one.

“I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves,” the stranger said. “Because none of you are leaving for a while.”

“Um, what’s going on?” Eliot asked. He’d just come from the back with a crate to restock the bar.

“Are you the owner of this bar?” asked the stranger.

“We both are,” Margo cut in. “Who the fuck are you?”

“My name is Ora. I’m sorry for the dramatics, but I’m here on very serious business. I’m tracking a dangerous magical entity known only as the Monster. I have reason to suspect it’s hiding somewhere in your establishment. I’ve put a containment field around your bar for the time being. No one can get in or out. Traveling isn’t an option either.”

“So you tracked some kind of Monster to our bar and then you trapped us in here with it. Shouldn't you be evacuating us, not quarantining us?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because the Monster could be hiding in any one of you. It’s a body jumper. I let you go and I risk letting it walk out wearing one of your skins.”

The atmosphere changed immediately. The others all glanced around the room, eyeing each other warily. Margo held Ora’s stare before letting out a deep sigh and pushing out from the table.

“All right. Let’s find your Monster.”

Margo didn’t like this. Any of it. The bar was miserably empty tonight, which meant no one should have been able to slip in the door without her noticing. And besides that, she and Julia had warded the whole building up the vag, so nothing should’ve been able to get through without sending up some kind of red flag that they both would have felt.

Margo led Ora through the bar, looking for any sign of a break-in. She felt a cold, paralyzing fear when they found the back door hanging open.

Margo used the thumbs and forefingers of both hands to form a window. She examined the door frame and confirmed that yes, the Monster had somehow carved out a little hole in the wards without Margo or Julia noticing.

“Exactly how strong is this thing?” she asked Ora. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

“It’s older than most recorded history. There are rumors it’s a fallen god.”

“Oh, is that all?” Margo felt numb. This thing was loose somewhere in her bar. Hiding in one of her friend’s bodies. And it was stronger than any of them could hope to take on.

She shut and latched the door. Evil body-hopping Monster or no, the last thing they needed was a raccoon wandering in and making itself comfortable. With more poise than should have been possible, Margo opened every bathroom and office door in the bar, looking for the Monster. They finally found a blonde man slumped over in one of the closets, completely unconscious.

“That’s him,” Ora said.

“Let’s move him to the office. We can tie him to the desk chair until we figure out who he’s hiding in.”

They carried him down the hall and Ora used a length of rope from her bigger-on-the-inside bag to restrain him. Margo followed her back to the main bar and tried not to think about the god she had tied up in her office.

“All right,” Ora announced. “I’m going to round everyone up for questioning. The Monster is a decent mimic, but it can’t fool everybody.”

Julia sat at the bar, watching Ora question Penny across the room. She wasn’t sure how having a complete stranger interrogate them would prove anything. She didn’t know anything about them. How would she know if they weren’t quite right?

Margo was standing stone-faced at the back of the bar. She watched the room, arms crossed tight over her chest. Julia knew how much The Cottage meant to Margo. She also knew that Margo cared about them all more than she liked to let on. It wasn’t hard to see how worried she was. Of course, that fear could just as easily be the Monster.

Stop. She hated how paranoid this was making her. But still, it could be in anyone…

She glanced at Quentin beside her. He was staring off into space, toying with his glass. This hadn’t turned into the night out they’d been expecting. If he ended up possessed by a Monster he definitely wouldn’t let her take him anywhere for at least a year.

“What do you think she’s asking him?” Julia asked. Quentin blinked out of his stupor and turned to her.

“Who knows. I don’t know how she would be a better judge of character than the rest of us anyway.”

“Maybe we should all pile together for a group of twenty questions,” Eliot suggested. He had gone back to work behind the bar, stocking fresh bottles on the shelf. He was studying the label on a bottle of Tito’s. “Or truth or dare, minus the dare.”

“Sure,” said Julia. She watched Eliot carelessly shove the bottle onto the shelf and fish a new one from the crate. He frowned down at it. If Julia didn’t know better, she’d say he looked confused by it.

“Hey, Margo,” Julia called out. Margo turned her head sharply and Julia tried to subtly gesture her head in Eliot’s direction. Not that he was paying any attention to her. Margo followed her cue immediately. “What do you think of truth or dare?”

“Sounds like a great idea.” Margo crossed the room as fast as she could without making it obvious she was hurrying. She walked up behind Eliot and placed a hand on his arm. “You need any help over here, El?”

“Nope,” he answered with an exaggerated pop on the “p.” He set the next bottle down at a random spot on the shelf and turned to Margo with a wide, unsettling smile. “So are we playing a game?”

“Yeah, honey. We’re playing a game.” Margo turned to face Ora’s table. “Hey, Boba Fett. I found your Monster.”

In a second, Eliot wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her flush against his chest. He grabbed a corkscrew off the bar top and held it against her neck.

“Yeah,” Quentin said. “Definitely not Eliot.”

Ora rushed over to the bar, cuffs in hand. Julia could make out faintly glowing inscriptions circling each cuff.

“Stop,” said Eliot’s voice. The creature using his body pushed the corkscrew enough to draw a drop of blood. Everyone in the bar froze.

“Sorry about this, El,” Margo said. Then she crouched as low as she could manage and threw her elbow back into his stomach. She loosened his grip enough to lunge away and Ora jumped over the bar. Before she had the chance to restrain the Monster, a golden mist flew out of Eliot’s mouth and into Ora’s. After a moment it flew back out, quickly followed by a second cloud.

The room shook, lights flickered, and they were all surrounded by a host of golden clouds swirling around their heads. One of the clouds rushed towards Julia's face. It was over almost as soon as it started. She felt stretched out and dizzy.

“Woah,” she said in a voice too deep to be her own. She brought a heavy hand up to her forehead, which was much higher off the ground than it should have been. Then she turned her head to the right and nearly screamed when she saw herself standing across the bar.

“Right,” said Quentin’s body. “I’ll get the name tags.”

Eliot sat in somebody else’s body and tried to figure out who he pissed off in a past life to make a day like this happen. Maybe it was that time he’d stolen his dad’s truck for a night out and returned it with an empty gas tank and a few new scratches. Yeah, that must be it.

He was still exhausted from being… wherever the hell he was trapped while that _thing_ puppeteered his body. All he wanted at the moment was to go home, down a few glasses of Macallan, and take a long, warm bath. But he couldn’t because they were all caught in a magical bear trap and shuffled into each other’s bodies. He was still trying to piece together the situation from bits and pieces of conversation. No one’s taken the time to sit down and explain it to him, probably forgetting he was MIA when Dawg the Monster Hunter showed up.

“Don’t touch anything,” growled Alice(?) from a few feet away. “Don’t even move funny. Just– Just sit down before you break something.”

Penny, or whoever was piloting Penny’s body, sat on the nearest bar stool sheepishly. Not Quentin walked over to Not Alice and slapped a name tag reading _PENNY_ onto her (his?) chest.

God, this was all too much to process. His head ached. He felt tired in a way that was bone deep. Soul deep, even. Turns out being possessed and trapped in a nightmare limbo dimension really took it out of you.

He took a moment to study the stranger, who was actually Kady according to her name tag. She was already looking at him. Probably because he was occupying her body at the moment.

“El, are you present?” called Quentin’s voice. Eliot lifted one of Kady’s hands weakly.

“Over here, Bambi.” She made out a name tag, taking care to smooth it out over his shirt.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired but all in one piece. Granted it isn’t my piece, but _c’est la vie_.”

Margo squeezed his shoulder then went to pass out the rest of the name tags.

Quentin was in Penny’s body, still sitting on the bar stool with his hands tucked under his arms. Alice was standing on the opposite side of the bar in Julia’s body. Julia herself seemed to be piloting Eliot’s meat suit. All in all, it wasn’t the worst option. Eliot could at least trust her to take care of it until they swapped back. And standing behind the bar, hands on her hips, scanning everyone in the room with a sharp gaze, stood the stranger wearing his best friend’s skin.

“Now that that’s settled,” Margo said, arranging her own name tag, “what the fuck just happened?”

“The Monster must have caused some sort of chain reaction when it leaped out of your friend’s body,” the stranger (Ora) said. She walked out to the center of the room, standing side by side with Margo. “Whatever it did, it caused our shades to get mixed up. It’s still in one of us. Though it’ll be even harder to figure out who.”

“What about the extra shade? Are they just sharing space with the Monster in someone else’s body?”

Ora shook her head. “The Monster doesn’t share your body. It completely takes over. The shade that should be occupying that body gets pushed out.”

“Where?”

“No one knows for sure. Somewhere in the ether.”

“Wherever it is, it’s not fucking pretty,” Eliot offered. Margo sent him a concerned look then turned back to Ora.

“And what happens if your shade is out there for too long?”

Eliot fought off a shiver as she said, “They disappear.”

It didn’t take long for the second round of interrogations to start up, this time with more audience participation. Ora and Margo questioned them in pairs, treating each other with as much suspicion as they showed the others.

Penny and Eliot finished their round of questioning pretty quickly. Eliot collapsed onto a bar stool as soon as it was over and rested his head on his arms. Whatever the Monster did must have completely drained him.

Penny walked through the bar, wondering at how strange and unfamiliar everything seemed from such a drastically lower perspective. Alice was almost a full foot shorter than him and it made navigating surprisingly difficult. He let out an annoyed sigh and sat at a nearby table where Julia (if the name tag was to be believed) was scribbling something frantically into a notepad.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out a way to stick us all back in the right bodies.” She made a quiet, frustrated sound in the back of her throat and tore out the page she was working on. She crumbled it into a ball and started over on a fresh page. “I don’t know what the Monster did and I don’t know if it can reverse it. I’m sure even if it could, it wouldn’t be willing. Why the fuck can’t I write?” She muttered the last bit to herself, shaking out her hand.

“I’m pretty sure Eliot’s left-handed.”

Julia frowned down at her pen before switching hands and writing much smoother than before.

“I think he’s also farsighted.” She squinted at the page as she wrote. “No wonder he never reads. This is a nightmare.”

Penny snorted and leaned his elbows on the table. “How are you gonna reverse this if you don’t even know what caused it?”

“I specialized in meta-composition at Brakebills. Creating new spells is literally my discipline. I’ll figure something out.”

Penny sat at the table while she worked, watching the others in the bar. The Monster could be any one of them. It had been fairly easy to figure it out the first time, but it would no doubt be more cautious now. Keeping a low profile. As he scanned the room, a thought occurred to him.

“Has Alice offered to help? Even once?” Julia simply raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t get me wrong, I trust that you can fix this. But it just… it doesn’t feel right that she wouldn’t try.”

She followed his gaze to where Alice and Kady were finishing their own interrogation.

“That does seem strange,” she agreed. They both observed the person wearing Julia’s skin and wondered.

Alice stood at the end of a long, gray hallway. There were piles of white books every few feet or so. She picked one up to find it completely blank from cover to cover. The light was strange here. Almost like it was passing through a black and white filter. She started walking through the hallway, every footstep echoing impossibly loud. Everything was tilted like a funhouse at the county fair and each step felt off balance.

There were doors lining the walls down the length of the hallway. She tried fruitlessly to open one, then another, and another, before she realized they were all locked. With every step, the hallway seemed to stretch out. Alice was sure she’d never reach the end but she’s never been one to give up on a challenge.

She paused in front of a door at random and tried the lockpicking spell Kady had taught her. Nothing happened.

She studied the hallway. There were no windows or open doors, but light was coming from somewhere. She steadied her breathing and focused on that. She tilted her head up and found a beam of light that seemed to flow from the corner where ceiling met wall.

Alice pulled over stacks of books and piled them together. Once the stack was high enough to reach the ceiling, she climbed on top of them, reaching a hand out until her fingertips just touched the corner.

For a moment, her hand seemed to push through the ceiling. Then without warning, she fell through a void for what felt like forever and no time at all. She landed on her hands and knees in a dark labyrinth of bookshelves.

“Well,” she said. “At least something happened.”

He liked this body. It was small but strong. Powerful. The name tag he wore read _ALICE_. He did not know what the body’s name was.

That didn’t matter. He just had to pretend to be this _Alice_ long enough to find a way to break the bounty hunter’s trap. It would be a shame if he had to kill her. They’ve been playing such a fun hunting game together. Much more fun than any of the others that have been sent after him.

He had made it through the hunter’s interrogation without much trouble. The questions hadn’t been very in-depth. She seemed more concerned with body language and behavior than with meaningless personal trivia. The hunter may not know _Alice_ but she knew him. She was studying them all for any hint of his mannerisms. So he kept his movements reserved, tight, timid. And it worked. At least for now.

The only person who seemed to be concerned was his interrogation partner. The body that was no longer Ora lingered around him, even after the questioning was over. This _Kady_ must be close to _Alice_. He would have to be careful. She ran a hand down the length of his arm, caught hold of his fingers.

“Are you feeling all right?”

He nodded, gave her a tight smile. “Just worried about the Monster. Whichever one of us got lost. How long this will take.”

This seemed to satisfy _Kady_. She squeezed his hand once but did not let go.

He had noticed two of the others watching them from a nearby table. They thought they were being subtle. He wasn’t sure if they were watching him or _Kady_. The attention was unwelcome regardless.

“Can we sit down somewhere? I’ve got a headache.”

“Of course,” _Kady_ said. Her words were kind but her tone was cold. If it weren’t for their hands intertwined, he’d think she and _Alice_ were enemies. But clearly she cared. Which meant he hadn’t fooled her as easily as he’d hoped.

One of the bodies watching him stood up from the table. The taller one, that he’d been using before the switch up. He had liked that body. Perhaps he could take it back when he found a way out of here.

The tall body made its way towards them and _Kady’s_ grip on his hand tightened, trying to hold him in place. Clearly he needed to work on his mimic skills. He’d keep that in mind for the future. As the tall body closed in on them, he wrenched his hand free and bolted for the back of the bar. Before he could get far, the body labeled _QUENTIN_ caught him in his arms.

He struggled for a bit but could not break _Quentin’s_ hold. He gave up, doubling over in laughter. The hunter had made her way over in the commotion. _Quentin_ shifted his hold so she could lock his wrists in those wretched manacles.

“Oh, you’re no fun,” he complained as the thrum of magic sent a shock through his wrists. “Our game can’t be over that easy.”

“This will be easier if he’s unconscious,” the hunter said to the others. “These restraints keep him from jumping between bodies, which means they’ll need to be off when we figure out how to fix this.”

“I can take care of that,” _Kady_ said.

He heard someone shout, “Not the face!” Then everything was dark.

Kady helped Margo and Ora lift the Monster’s body out to the bar floor. They laid it next to Julia’s body.

Julia herself sat a few tables away, furiously scratching out permutations. Kady tried not to panic. Julia was her best friend and one of the most talented magicians she knew. Kady knew she would find a way to get everyone in the right bodies. But every second they spent researching was another second Alice was trapped in limbo. Another second that might be too late.

So Kady made herself useful by helping with the preparations, hoping it would be enough to distract her from the fact that her girlfriend was trapped in a nightmare dimension. Distract herself from Eliot, who was still clearly exhausted from the time he spent there. Not nearly as long as Alice.

It would be fine. They would all be fine. Julia would find the right spell, Ora would leave with her Monster, and Kady would take Alice home so they could spend an entire weekend in bed recovering and forget this ever happened.

“I’ve got it,” Julia announced, leaping away from the table. She had everyone push tables and stools out of the way, clearing a space around the two bodies on the floor. Margo fetched some salt from the back and began laying it out in a circle around them all, while Julia followed behind her and sprinkled a mix of herbs over the salt and chanted something inaudible.

Ora removed the handcuffs from Julia’s body and passed them to Kady.

“Sit by their bodies in the circle,” Ora said. “I’ll need to put those on him the second we all wake up.”

Kady nodded and positioned herself next to the Monster. She looked over at Eliot, who was hovering around the outside of the circle.

“Do me a favor,” she said. “Make sure I’m standing next to Alice when we switch back.”

He nodded weakly and moved to find Penny.

Once Margo and Julia were finished forming the circle, they lined everyone up inside the edges. Julia gave them all a quick demonstration of the finger tuts she had worked out.

Kady watched from the center as the six magicians left standing performed the spell. They were in completely uncharted waters. There was no guarantee it would even work. She just had to trust Julia.

Suddenly, the room shook and the lights flashed, same as before. There was a cloud of golden mist dancing in the air and then Kady was on her feet at the edge of the circle. She barely had a second to process that she was back in her own body before Alice was collapsing next to her. Kady caught Alice in her arms easily, helping her upright.

“Hey. You with me?”

Alice smiled. It was small and unsteady but it was _Alice._ “Yeah, I’m here. A little shaky. Really tired. Kinda hungry.”

Kady laughed and pulled Alice closer.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you some snacks.”

The moment they were back in their bodies, Ora slapped the handcuffs onto the Monster. Then she hauled it, him, whatever to sit against one of the walls. He rested his head on his knees, watching them all from the corner. A too-wide smile spread across his face when he caught Margo watching back.

She shook it off and looked away, focusing instead on Ora undoing her containment field. She worked quickly and quietly. Margo didn’t feel it fall, just like she hadn’t felt it go up, which meant it must have been just outside the bounds of The Cottage’s wards. Wards she and Julia would have to redo before they left tonight.

Ora finished her spellwork and walked over to Margo.

“Thank you for your cooperation tonight. And I’m sorry for all the trouble we caused.”

Margo waved her off. “Send a few new customers our way and I’ll overlook it.”

Ora smiled for the first time all night. “I’ll do that. You all take care of yourselves. And look into strengthening your wards.”

“Believe me,” Margo grimaced. “I will.”

Ora had taken down her trap and left with the Monster over an hour ago. Penny had left almost immediately after, traveling Kady and Alice home so Alice could rest.

Quentin sat at the bar and rested his forehead against the cool wood of the countertop. He was waiting for Julia and Margo to finish redoing the wards before they went home. Eliot slid onto one of the barstools next to him.

“So. When you said it was time for a change,” he started. Quentin let out a laugh that sounded more like a groan and sat up.

“I think I’ve had enough change for a while. I’m afraid it’s back to Quentin 1.0 for the foreseeable future.”

“For what it’s worth,” Eliot said, “I’ve always been a fan of Quentin 1.0.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. In fact,” he leaned forward in his seat, “I was thinking of taking him out this Saturday. Although if he wanted to keep the 2.0 pants, I wouldn’t complain.”

Quentin bit down the goofy smile that threatened to take over his face. “I think that could be arranged.”

Margo and Julia walked back into the bar, looking frustrated and tired and just a little anxious.

“They’re back up. For now,” Margo said. “We definitely need to find something stronger. Maybe Kady’s network of hedge bitches can turn something up.”

“We can get started in the morning,” Julia said. “Let’s all get home and get some sleep.”

They made their goodbyes at the door while Eliot locked up. Julia linked her arm with Quentin’s and turned to Eliot.

“You seriously need glasses," she told him then marched off into the night. Quentin could still hear him laughing as they walked away.


End file.
